


Five Times Vanya Needed Help and the One Time She Got It

by kitty_pryde_bi_pride



Series: 5+1 Works [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Touch-Starved, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, cause that's awesome, vanya and diego's band
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24755023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitty_pryde_bi_pride/pseuds/kitty_pryde_bi_pride
Summary: It may be a long time overdue, but Allison is finally ready to put in the time and do whatever it takes to create a relationship with Vanya. She won’t let her sister be alone ever again.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Series: 5+1 Works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766371
Comments: 1
Kudos: 259





	Five Times Vanya Needed Help and the One Time She Got It

**Author's Note:**

> i've been having trouble posting this so hopefully this works!
> 
> some of these ages are wonky but just bare with it
> 
> hope you like it!

Ben – like with most things – noticed it first.

It was their fourteenth birthday, right before all his favorite siblings started leaving, and Klaus had the genius idea to sneak out and go out to eat. Luther had been concerned at first, but as soon as Allison was on board he quickly caved.

Besides, none of them really wanted to be cooped up in the mansion for the first birthday celebrating six siblings instead of seven.

Allison had the magnanimous idea to invite Vanya along – after Ben mentioned in passing that Vanya would probably love to go out too – and so the six of them piled out of the mansion, heading towards Griddy’s for some rebellious doughnuts and coffee. 

Luther and Allison walk together holding hands, Diego and Klaus fall into step while complaining about their recent training, but Ben stays towards the back where Vanya was walking slowly, head down. 

He glances over to her, about to say something, but at the sight of her tear-streaked face he decides to leave it alone, walking quietly in companionable silence. 

Just before they get to the diner, he reaches out, puts his hand on her shoulder, about to ask if she’s okay, but immediately stops as she violently recoils from his touch and wraps her arms tightly around himself. 

He looks at her, really stares as she uses her sleeve to wipe off all tears and stands uncomfortably in front of him, but doesn’t know what to say.

At the diner, he watches her cram herself into the corner of their booth and do her best to avoid touching Allison next to her and Klaus across the table, and hopes she’s alright.

He’s pretty sure she and Five had been closer than the rest of them, good friends, even, and he decides he’ll make more of an effort to reach out to her going forward.

Like all his best ideas, the effort goes to waste when she withdraws completely from the family and runs away just a few short years later.

Two years after that, when Ben is only 18, it’s far too late: he dies on a mission.

He has different things than his sister’s well-being to give his attention to.

\-------

Vanya’s weird, but Diego thinks that’s alright- after all, he’s a little messed up too.

And anyone who can play violin – and evidently, by the way their shows have been going, guitar in a punk band – that well deserves a few chances.

He’s overjoyed by the chance to try and make it on their own, sixteen and having already moved out from their horrible father’s home, and he and Vanya are getting paid to perform at local bars and venues despite their young age. 

It’s not a lot – a lot less, in comparison to their lavish mansion and home-cooked meals – but it’s his, and that’s what counts.

Performing makes him feel alive, flooding his veins with adrenaline rushes comparable to the missions he was once forced to do, and he makes the most of it.

Music is more important than he can really articulate: the opportunity to connect with others in a way that doesn’t rely on his faulty voice, to show them how confident and skilled he can be when not constantly compared to his siblings.

The whole thing is almost overwhelming.

So much so that he doesn’t notice Vanya not joining in as he goes to chat up their burgeoning collection of groupies, fails to catch her refusal to hang out in the bar after shows, is oblivious to the way she flinches whenever someone pats her on the back or throws an arm around her.

What he does catch is the way guys go up to her some nights and get in her space, hassling her. He may have developed newfound success for her now that they’ve gotten to know one another a little better, but it’s hard to not see her as his defenseless, powerless sister, and he rushes to her defense without pause.

He gets into the guys space, shoves him off, then throws his arm around his little sister – even if they are technically the same age – and pulls her outside the bar. 

For all his effort to make sure she’s alright, he completely misses the significance of how she quickly pushes him off and starts to walk away- it’s easy to assume she just needs some space.

He gets home a few hours later, high and a little drunk from older patrons giving him drinks under the radar, and passes out, the whole encounter ultimately faded in his mind.

\-------

Klaus would be the first to proudly declare himself the problem sibling.

He had embraced substantial drug use shortly after Number Five’s disappearance, something that had only worsened as Reginald’s training program accelerated and his favorite brother died- at least he had stayed for that, waiting till he was 18 to move out with Allison unlike Diego and Vanya. 

Even he wasn’t impulsive enough to try and live on his own before he could even legally pay rent, wasn’t caustic enough to abandon his siblings without a second glance.

But hey, Klaus wasn’t the bitter sibling – he’d leave that honor to Luther – and he worked hard to stay that way.

That’s why, being 24 and freshly out of his third stint in state-mandated rehab, he’s on his way to his estranged sister’s apartment- studiously ignoring Ben’s disapproving look following him everywhere he goes.

He’s got plenty of practice at ignoring warning signs, at least.

He bangs on her door, leaning against the frame, grinning rakishly as she appears in her pajamas – that’s right, it’s two in the morning – and follows her inside.

Her place is relatively small, with a room set up for violin lessons and practice, a tiny kitchenette, bathroom, and bedroom. He doesn’t see any signs of potential hobbies or interests, no knickknacks from traveling or friends, not even any mementos from her time at the academy, and decides not to question it.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to justify: she’s the one who left them first.

She offers her bed to him and he accepts, not thinking of how this’ll force her to sleep on the coach or to ask how she’s been doing- he’s just excited to have a nice bed with warm blankets.

He smiles sleepily at her as she pulls the covers up, tucking him in, and feels safe for a moment with his kindest, most innocent sibling.

He leaves the next morning before she’s awake, ignoring his brother’s request for him to stay and talk to her, the unmarked bottle of pills on her nightstand, how she’s curled up on a blanket next to the wall, the sight of waffle mix set out on the counter, still in a plastic grocery bag.

Just like her, he’s had to be on his own for a while, and that means he can’t afford to read into these clear signs that his little sister is not okay.

\-------

Five is here on a mission and has no time for frivolous concerns- the least of which how his siblings seem to shun and ignore Vanya. 

Her tell-all book really hadn’t been that bad, after all, and it helped him catch up on everything that happened after he got lost in the future.

But he has to focus on saving the world, there’s no time to pretend otherwise, and he’s certain he can catch up on everything else once that’s over. 

Vanya’s stayed in the same city since she moved out, the same apartment she and Diego first got, kept the same single-minded focus of her violin for nearly a decade now. Evidence pretty clearly shows Five’s got nothing to worry about as far as repairing this relationship goes.

The first night he’s back, while he’s still trying to gather baseline information on the current state of affairs with their family and aftermath of Reginald’s funeral, he decides to stay with Vanya. 

A little gesture can go a long way, after all, and she seems the easiest option for no strings attached support.

It takes him barely a minute into their conversation for him to notice somethings off- after decades of working as an assassin, his ability to read people is unparalleled.

He watches her subtlety, looks at the way she sits far from him, purposefully creating distance, but still leans forward in an effort to be closer. Her shoulders are hunched, hands clenched tightly around her cup of tea, and it’s abundantly clear to him that she’s not sure how to deal with someone in her space.

Her apartment doesn’t even have any signs of herself other than the violin- it doesn’t look like she’s dated or even made friends.

He’s not certain what the best word is to describe her apparent isolation and Five feels heartbroken, for a moment, at how his favorite sister fared without him. 

He reminisces for a moment, thinking back to before he made that terrible, uninformed choice to leave it all behind, to how the two of them had been best friends, spending all their free time together, practicing violin and studying, sitting together reading books. 

He had hoped she’d found someone else like that, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

In any case, he doesn’t have the time to deal with it right now. He finishes their conversation as quickly as possible, lets her be tender with him and tuck him in just for the night, then steals away as soon as he’s certain she’s asleep.

He’ll have time to make it up to her once the apocalypse is averted.

\-------

Things…hadn’t been going well for Luther lately.

His father had died suddenly, his siblings were refusing to get along, and now he had botched things with Allison.

Not to mention, the impending apocalypse looming over all their heads had been putting a damper on things.

But the moment Vanya hurt Allison, it got personal, and now he was ready to step up and do what needed to be done for the good of the group. Their father had chosen him as the leader, as Number One, for a reason and he was ready to make good on it.

He never really paid attention to little Vanya, having been wrapped up with his disdain for Klaus and competition with Diego and relationship with Allison, but he had no choice now that she had powers and had proven a threat to those he cared about: she’d have to be taken out of commission until he could find a way to neutralize her. 

She returns to the mansion, of all places, teary and hysterical, and he greets her in the entryway. There’s no need to let her get any closer to where Allison is trying to recover.

He’s struck by how tiny she looks, shaking like a leaf, and freezes for a moment as she stumbles into him. She…doesn’t feel like a threat, in the moment, full of apologies and remorse and guilt, but he knows better than to stray from his mission.

Right now, she trusts him unconditionally and is too frantic to try anything, so it has to be now.

He closes his eyes, blocking out his gut screaming at him that he’s making the wrong choice, and pulls her closer to him. He takes a deep breath, ignoring the way she collapses into his arms, just holding her for a moment, before he puts her in a headlock and starts to squeeze.

As she starts to try and pull away, push at him, he feels something twist inside him, but he steels himself and decides it doesn’t matter.

If he is forced to choose sides, choose siblings, he’ll pick Allison and her safety over Vanya’s every time, without question.

She falls unconscious and he picks her up, blocking out whatever uncertain feelings still haunt him, following Pogo to the hidden room under the basement.

\-------

+1

It was the night that the apocalypse was supposed to occur and everything pointed to Vanya being the undeniable cause of it.

Allison watched her brothers rally themselves, watched them throw away whatever ounce of affection they had left for their sister and march into her concert to – most likely – end the threat for good.

Though it seemed cut and dry to them, Allison knew it wasn’t that simple: at the end of the day, Vanya was a kind person, something that had been clear to her from the moment she saw her the day of the funeral. She was worth getting to know again, developing a relationship with, but treating her as a threat would only alienate and escalate her.

Her brothers didn’t seem to get the memo and, without her voice and therefore her powers, Allison was stuck helplessly trailing behind as they steamrolled through logic.

She had managed to convince them to let her go into the theater first, to see Vanya before any fighting went down, and now all she could do was stand there, unbelievably proud, as her brilliant sister played like no one she had ever seen before.

None of them were special because of their powers; Allison’s divorce had shown her this. They were still just people, still capable of mistakes and regrets, just born with something extra.

Vanya, though? On top of having an extraordinary amount of raw power, she was truly talented, not with something that was gifted to her or she was born with, but with her violin, something she had dedicated her life to.

Allison stepped towards the stage, oblivious to the way her brothers were bursting in behind her and onto the stage, trying to evacuate audience members as quickly as possible.

All she saw was her favorite sister, playing her heart out. 

They looked at each other and Allison smiled at her, trying to convey a million unsaid words into a single glance, and a tear rolled down Vanya’s cheek.

The moment is broken when Five jumps onto the stage, trying to grab her, and Vanya takes control of the room on impulse, transforming into something terrible.

But Allison has stood by and watched terrible things happen before, and she won’t do it again.

She pushes her way forward, hands in the air, watching her sister easily disarm and immobilize her powerful siblings, until she stands right behind her on the stage. 

There’s a gun tucked into the back of her pants, Diego had given it to her before they went in, but it’s not what she wants.

Instead, she steps forward and wraps her arms around her sister, pulling her into a tight hug, and they sink onto the ground as Vanya goes boneless in her arms.

Their siblings surround them, released, and Allison ignores their fighting on whether to move forward with killing Vanya and how to proceed- it’s not what matters.

It may be a long time overdue, but Allison is finally ready to put in the time and do whatever it takes to create a relationship with Vanya. She won’t let her sister be alone ever again.


End file.
